​The Village of Mundelein, IL is planning streetscape improvements for Hawley between Morris Ave and James Ave. The improvements will include removing existing trees and planting trees in new locations, as well as adding decorative signs, benches, and flower pots along that will improve the aesthetics of the street corridor.

One of the biggest challenges with promoting streetscape improvements is visualizing how the improvements will look. The village Streets department had attempted to markup an aerial image with a marker to get an idea of what it might look like, but the markups were difficult to see. Therefore, the Streets Department decided to contact the village Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Office about creating a map that would show the proposed changes in a visually appealing and easy to understand way.

The primary objective was to create symbols that would stand out on an aerial map. The GIS Office chose 3D symbols and bright colors to make the improvements stand out. They symbols made it easy to distinguish new tree locations from the trees that were being removed. It also made the locations of new garbage cans, benches, and decorative signs stand out.

By using the tools available in GIS the Village was able to quickly create a map that used an aerial to show how the streetscape currently looks. Proposed improvements were clearly overlaid on the aerial to show how the streetscape could look in the future. The final map is a powerful tool for telling the story of how the Village plans to improve this important business corridor.